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A whirlwind week

It has been another full on week. Here is a little summary of what Wiley and I have been up to.

Talks

In addition to my regular taxi talk I also had a talk to give to new bus drivers. What I hope is that by giving these talks catching a bus or taxi is made a little easier for anyone who is blind or vision impaired.

Physio Visit/Half Marathon Training

I visited the physio again this week. Yet more exercises and stretches, some taping of the knee, deep tissue work and more anti-inflamatories. I have also been advised to not run outside until there is a marked improvement. I was told I could still run on my treadmill but yesterday it malfunctioned while I was using it. None of the buttons worked so I couldn’t slow it down or stop it. In the end I pulled the emergency stop which thankfully enabled me to get off. I will call the place I purchased it from on Monday to see if they can come out and fix it again. In the meantime I will go back to using my rower each morning.

Learning a New Route and some bad handling 😦

On Tuesday Wiley and I met up with one of the local O&M’s to do some Guide Dog orientation work as I wanted to learn a new route. We had done some prep work previously so I had a reasonably good idea of where we were going as did Wiley. Everything was going really well but then made a handler error which impacted on Wiley’s work.

The route I was being taught was reasonably long – about 3km. Everything was great on the way there. Wiley was focused, made all the right turns and did some good obstacle and overhanging work. He adapted well to the changes we made on our previous lesson.

I should have called it a day or at least found somewhere to take a break so all of us could have had a decent rest. Instead I gave Wiley a short wee break and asked him to guide me back (another 3km) along a different route.

He was quite distracted for part of the route and towards the end kept looking off to his left. The O&M said he was leaving it to the very last minute to walk me around poles or other obstacles that were in our way. At the last crossing he started to walk as soon as he heard the audio beep, instead of waiting for my forward command. I corrected with a verbal ‘wait for it’ but knew that it was my fault as he had been working too hard for two long. If it was a route we had travelled many times it wouldn’t have been quite so demanding for him. I gave myself a stern talking to for not looking after my beautiful boy as well as I should have.

Afternoon bush walks

We had an early start every morning this week so Wiley and I couldn’t enjoy as long or leisurely bush-walks as we usually do. Wiley still had a recreational walk every morning but to reward him for his hard work I also took him for a couple of long afternoon walks. On one of them we came across a horse and rider, it was the first time we had a met a horse on the trail. Wiley was very good and sat net to me as the horse passed by. I love that in autumn you can walk almost anytime of the day without it being too hot.

Harness Cam update

My new camera has arrived, I haven’t figured out how to attach it to Wiley’s harness without it being a nuisance but I have an idea of a few things to try so I can capture Wiley at work. Stay tuned for some pics/video.